Oppose the Further Intervention of U.S. Imperialism, Prepare For Its Direct Intervention, Frustrate the Regime's Oplan Gordian Knot, and Advance the People's War

Komiteng Rehiyon-Gitnang Luzon
Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas
December 26, 2002

The entire organization of the Party, the New People's Army (NPA) and the revolutionary masses of Central Luzon joyously celebrate the 34th anniversary of the re-establishment of the Party. The Party was re-established on December 26, 1968 under the theoretical guidance of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM) in order to lead the new-democratic revolution for national liberation from US imperialism and social liberation from feudalism. This was after the Lava and Taruc leadership of the old merger party had betrayed the Philippine revolution. Since 1969, the CPP (MLM) has led the armed revolution that is now raging throughout the entire country.

The comrades and masses in all parts of the archipelago are gathering on this great day to recall the victories of the 34 years of revolutionary struggle, especially those in the last year, to remember and honor the revolutionary martyrs, and to reaffirm the determination to advance the people's democratic revolution (PDR) until victory. We look forward to the establishment of socialism in the Philippines after achieving the national victory of the PDR.

We greet the cadres and members of the Party, the officials and fighters of the New People's Army and the revolutionary masses on the happy occasion of the anniversary of our Party.

We are marking the anniversary of the Party in the midst of the direct intervention and the threat of direct military aggression of US imperialism in our country. US intervention has now been furthered shamelessly under the guise of the "war against terrorism." Everyone knows that it has no other real target but the revolutionary movement. When the US troops directly intervene in our country, the revolution will increasingly take on the character of a National War. Protracted people's war is the answer of Filipino patriots to this terrorism of the US.

Meanwhile, the US is poised to unleash a war of aggression against Iraq and this has created strong opposition and the protests of entire countries and peoples of the world, including those in Europe and the US itself. The American people are not in favor of their government freely waging war and killing large numbers of people in their name. The people of the world will not allow the arrogant powerful imperialists whose chieftain is George W. Bush to prevail.

Within the country, we witness the outright puppetry of Macapagal-Arroyo to US imperialism. When US Secretary of State Colin Powell declared the CPP-NPA as "terrorist," Macapagal gleefully concurred and opened up the country where the New People's Army operates to the intervention of the US. Initially, it will involve joint training, but later on, the puppet Philippine troops will undertake joint attacks with US troops. In retrospect, it is not surprising for the US to declare the CPP-NPA as "terrorist" because US imperialism and the local reactionaries are really terrorized by the prospect of a growing revolutionary movement which will eventually bring down their power and benefit.

On this occasion of the anniversary of the Party, we remember and honor our revolutionary martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the revolution this year 2002 and in previous years. We dedicate to them the victories we have achieved in previous years. We draw inspiration from their example in order to persevere in our actions and to surmount all difficulties and sacrifice.

The conditions inside and outside the country are for
waging revolution are more excellent than ever!

Worsening crisis of the world capitalist system and the
advance of the international anti-imperialist movement

The world capitalist system is being bombarded with a crisis far worse than that of the Great Depression from 1929 to 1932. The present crisis is the result of the imperialist economic policy of neo-liberalism which was first implemented in 1980. The crisis first hit Mexico in 1995. Southeast Asia came next in 1997 and it spread throughout eastern Asia in the same year. The crisis hit Russia and Brazil in 1998 and 1999, and it afflicted the very heart of capitalism, the US, in 2000.

With the bursting of the tech-stock bubble from April 2000 to April 2001 in the US, four trillion dollars worth of value perished in the stock market. The bursting of the bubble was the result of over-capitalization and overcapacity of high-tech products. Overproduction occurred, forcing many factories to close and the value of tech-stocks to collapse. The meager savings of those small American families that were enticed to invest in these tech-stocks on the promise of a high rate of return perished as well. Huge corporations worth billions of dollars in assets, such as Enron Corp. WorldCom Inc.- and lately, Conseco Inc., an insurance and loan company - went bankrupt in this crisis.

The economy of Japan has been mired since 1989 because of its overproduction of steel, cars and electronic products. Japanese banks are sinking deeper in debts they cannot repay. No remedy has proven effective for the depression that Japan has slumped into for more than a decade now. The three largest centers of the imperialist system - the US, Japan and the European Union - are now all in crisis.

The crisis of overproduction of the capitalist system will not be resolved even if it goes back and forth from Keynesianism (state intervention in the economy by means of allotting public funds in public works in order to stimulate the economy) to neo-liberalism because it does not resolve the fundamental contradiction of capitalism: namely, the character of production is social, while its ownership or appropriation remains private. Workers create the wealth of society, but the capitalists or the bourgeoisie appropriate or live off it.

The policy of neo-liberalism, which imperialism has been implementing for the past 22 years now, raises the outmoded slogans of the bourgeoisie, slogans that it carried during the time of free-competition capitalism during the 19th century or when there were still no monopolies. The imperialists champion the slogan of the "globalization" of the "free market." They say that all countries and capitalists may freely compete in the "free market" so we must allow the free flow of capital and goods.

How can a backward country like the Philippines compete in the "free market" with powerful imperialist countries like the US and Japan? How can small capitalists have an equal opportunity in the "free market" facing gigantic imperialists? The "globalization of the free market" is a big deception. It merely conceals the reality of the existence of monopolies in the world.

The neo-liberal policy of "liberalization" is none other than the absence of restriction to the flow of imperialist capital and trade. "Privatization" is none other than the private appropriation by capitalists, especially imperialists, of the public assets and funds of the state. "Deregulation" means the removal of laws against monopolies.

Hence, it is not surprising why the result of these neo-liberal policies is the more rapid concentration and centralization of capital and wealth in the hands of a few imperialists. The wealth of the 225 wealthiest individuals in the world is equivalent to the annual earnings of the poorest 47 percent of the world's total population. The three wealthiest individuals in the world has assets larger than the combined gross domestic product of the 48 most backward countries. If in the past mergers (combinations of capital) worth one billion dollars were rare, now mergers worth 100 billion dollars or more are commonplace.

Together with this accelerated concentration of capital and wealth in the hands of a few is the more rapid destruction of productive forces. Millions of workers, including Filipino workers, now endure hunger and wallow in poverty because of little or no jobs.

In order to surmount this present crisis, US President Bush is hastily waging a war on Afghanistan and threatening a war on Iraq. He is increasing war and military production and promoting war. Bush does not care how many Iraqi babies and children, women and citizens will perish in a war as long as he can demonstrate who is the king of the world and how effective are his weapons of mass destruction. What is important is being able to sell war and military equipment and to stimulate the US economy.

But the people of the world are not keeping still in the face of US arrogance. The US threat of war against Iraq is being greeted by gigantic protest actions in Europe and the US. In South Korea, a million people rallied to demand the abrogation of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), to kick out the US troops and to make them pay for the deaths of two Korean students.

There is no economic summit of large capitalist countries that is not greeted by protest actions reaching millions of people such as what transpired in Seattle and Genoa. The US is increasingly becoming isolated because of its refusal to allow International Criminal Court (ICC) jurisdiction over US soldiers. Other countries condemn the wanton violation of the human rights of Arabs, Latin Americans, Asians and other people of color in the US.

Anti-US sentiments are on the rise and the international
anti-imperialist movement grows stronger

The focal point of the struggle in the world imperialist system is in the countries of the third world where armed revolutions are raging. Included among them are Colombia, India, Mexico, Nepal, Palestine, Peru, the Philippines, Turkey, Sri Lanka and others. In these countries of the third world and the backward countries of the former Soviet bloc reside over 80 percent of humanity. They are the ones who principally bear the brunt of wholesale unemployment, low wages, onerous unjust taxes, and back-breaking debts.

The first stage of the general crisis which began in the early part of the 20th century led to World War I from 1914-1918 and resulted in the victory of the Russian Revolution and the establishment of socialism in one-sixth of humankind.

The second stage from after World War I led to the Great Depression of 1929-1932, and proceeded to World War II and resulted in the victory of the Chinese Revolution and the inclusion into the socialist camp of one-third of humanity (including the Soviet Union, China, eight countries in eastern Europe, the northern part of Vietnam and the northern part of Korea).

The third stage of the general crisis of capitalism from after World War II ended with the victory of revolution in Indochina, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) in China and the start of the strategic decline of US imperialism in 1975. Nevertheless, this was eclipsed by the betrayal of socialism by the Soviet Union beginning 1956 and China beginning 1976 as a result of modern revisionism. With the collapse of the revisionist regimes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe from 1989 to 1991, and the restoration of capitalism in China in 1976, the forces of socialism suffered defeat on a world scale. They are now going through a difficult process of regrouping and regaining strength.

Strikes and protests are now spreading throughout the capitalist countries. Eventually, the socialist movement will emerge from among them. There is a basis for achieving victory in the war for national liberation in some of the backward countries. It is within the determination of Filipino Communists and the Filipino people to take advantage of the excellent conditions in the world and within the country in order to win the victory of the Philippine revolution in the first decade of the present century.

Excellent conditions within the country

The crisis in politics and the economy wracking the entire semi-colonial and semi-feudal system continues to worsen. The crisis in politics is heating up once again - soon after the ouster of the corrupt Estrada regime in January 2001, the prospect of ousting the corrupt puppet Macapagal-Arroyo regime is shaping up once more.

The Macapagal-Arroyo regime continues to be exposed and to become isolated because of corruption and its outright puppetry to US imperialism. Just recently, it has been exposed that Macapagal and her husband received an P18 million bribe from Mark Jimenez; they also received a bribe for an agreement on the IMPSA deal. If Estrada had his Muslim Foundation, Macapagal has her Lualhati Foundation. So what's new?

Reactionaries who have held reactionary power from the time of Roxas up to Marcos, and from Marcos' time to Macapagal-Arroyo, are of one kind. They are all puppets of US imperialism, defenders of the interests of the big landlords and the comprador-big bourgeoisie, corrupt and dishonest, anti-people and counterrevolutionary.

The revolutionary movement must gather strength over a long period in order to overthrow by means of armed revolution the entire ruling system, and thoroughly demolish the whole lot of puppet, corrupt, anti-people leaders. While this cannot yet be accomplished, it is necessary to launch a powerful mass movement and to form the broadest united front to overthrow one at a time the principal enemy, the reactionary in power and most subservient to US imperialism.

There is a big probability that Macapagal would be ousted from power before 2004. Even if this does not happen, chances are that Macapagal will not win in the 2004 election. Even now, she is already faring miserably and the puppet, anti-people president is lagging far behind others in surveys of who the people will vote for as president in 2004. While the various cases of corruption and wrongdoing continue to be exposed and while she persists in puppetry to the US and while she becomes more repressive, the people will repudiate Macapagal-Arroyo even more.

Macapagal-Arroyo cannot even count on changing the constitution of the GRP. Chances are, Jose de Venecia and others in the Lakas-NUCD stand to benefit more from charter change.

Meanwhile, the other anti-Macapagal reactionaries, including Lacson, Enrile, Angara and others, who sense that Macapagal would not last long in power, are waiting in the wings like vultures.

The infighting among the reactionaries is becoming more intense, and this permeates even the military. The camp of Lacson is already dueling to the death with the camp of Corpus. They are fighting over positions and power and the large revenues from drugs, smuggling, kidnap-for-ransom operations, gambling, jueteng, etc. The infighting will worsen even more as the 2004 election draws near.

Behind the political crisis is the worsening economic crisis which devastated eastern Asia, including the Philippines, in 1997 and continues up to the present. The economic crisis which was produced by the rotting semi-feudal and semi-colonial system and aggravated by the world crisis is the objective basis behind the downfall of the Estrada regime in 2001and the intense isolation of the Macapagal-Arroyo regime at present.

Macapagal's much-boasted expertise in economics can do nothing. The country's economy is still in the dumps. The external debt has already reached over $54 billion and the people continue to shoulder it. The government's budget deficit is over P200 billion, and this ties down teachers and civil employees to low salaries and ensures little or no social services. Millions lack or have no jobs. Peasants who have no land are made to suffer even more with imports which bring down the prices of their products.

Macapagal-Arroyo's response to the struggles and protests of the people in accordance with the wishes of her imperialist master is to wage all-out war. Oplan Gordian Knot is the new name for the large operation, murder, beating up, terrorizing, violation of human rights, intelligence and psy-war operations against the revolutionary forces and the people. The objective of the psy-war operations is to demonize the NPA.

Macapagal is confident about not continuing the peace talks with the NDFP because she is being assured American aid in the counterrevolutionary "all-out war." The time for peace talks with the rebels has already expired, according to the Macapagal government. "Surrender or die!" is its call to the revolutionary forces, while refusing to negotiate.

Macapagal is making a big mistake with the force that she is threatening. The revolutionary movement was not cowed and did not yield to Marcos and its 20-year fascist rule. And Macapagal expects it to surrender to her? The revolutionary movement will frustrate the regime's Oplan Gordian Knot.

In her outright puppetry to be able to stay on as president beyond 2004, Macapagal has run over Congress and has secretly signed the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) recently. This and the previous Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) ensure US troops the freedom to enter and exit the country at will, to have free use of the country's facilities as military bases, and guarantees tighter US control over the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) through indoctrination and training and the use of military hardware made in the US.

The regime's negligence and lack of concern for the welfare of the people, its corruption and wrongdoing, its "all-out war" and outright puppetry to the US, are reaping the intense hatred of the people.

Victories of the revolutionary struggle in the year 2002

Successes in party-building

The Party continues to strengthen itself in the fields of ideology, politics and organization. The Party is arming itself with Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, the revolutionary theory of the proletariat, by carrying out theoretical studies and using this in investigation and research, summing-up and assessment of its work. Cadres and members strive to carry out the correct style of work of the Party; the unity of revolutionary theory with practice, being close to the masses and learning from them, being able to carry out timely criticism and self-criticism. Social investigation is being formed as a basis for leading mass struggles and for forming revolutionary mass organizations.

The campaign to propagate the clarifications of the PB-CC and EC-CC regarding mass work in the countryside is now underway after the successful holding of the National Conference on Mass Work in the Countryside this year.

We continue to bring the 70 percent of the Party membership to finish the Basic Party Course (BPC) and the Intermediate Party Course (IPC).

We continue to study the documents of the Second Great Rectification Movement. The works of Mao Zedong on the protracted people's war and the writings of Jose Maria Sison on important topics such as imperialism, the situation of the world capitalist system, the necessity of socialism, and the history of the international communist movement, are being translated.

The organization of the Party in the region is preparing to sum up its four-year experience since the holding of the Second Regional Conference and the 17-year summing up of experience in 1998.

In the field of organization, the recruitment of new members continues. The Party's membership has grown ____ more or less. New members continue to add to the local branches, which are the basic unit of the Party. The membership of the branches is being expanded in order to provide leadership over whole barrios, communities and factories. In accordance with carrying out the resolutions of the national and regional conferences regarding the revolutionary workers' movement, the recruitment of Party members from among the workers has become more vigorous. We are slowly overcoming the conservatism in the recruitment into the Party from the working class.

We are continuing to compose the leading committees of the Party with representation from the working class, petty-bourgeois intellectuals and peasantry. It is a good thing that the revolutionary workers' movement in the region continues to provide personnel to the countryside from the ranks of Party activists and members who are developed in the mass struggles in the factories and communities. Even the ranks of the revolutionary youth-students are beginning to contribute fighters for the countryside.

Successes in the armed struggle

In advancing the protracted people's war, we integrate the advance of the armed struggle, the agrarian revolution and the formation of the mass base in the countryside.

We struggle consciously against military conservatism in the Party and the people's army. Revolutionaries grasp that even if we advance the agrarian revolution and form the mass base, it is possible to fall into populism if we do not confront the issue of destroying the reactionary state of the big landlords and the comprador-big bourgeoisie.

Among the highlights of the tactical offensives (TOs) and battles launched by the units of the NPA against the AFP and Philippine National Police (PNP) are the following:

• Encirclement of a five-man Force-Recon Team of the 69th IB in Mexico, Pampanga last August 16, 2002 in which two intelligence operatives were killed and others wounded. We recovered 2 High Powered Rifles (HPR), a pistol and valuable documents.
• Ambush of a mobile group of intelligence operatives of the 703rd Bde. and of PNP in Lubao, Pampanga last August 31, 2002 in which four enemy soldiers were slain.
• Raid of a detachment of the 306th Police Mobile Group (PMG) in San Rafael, Bulacan last September 30, 2002 in which two were confirmed dead.
• Encounter between a unit of the NPA and a group of troops of the 34th Special Forces Company (SFC) of the Philippine Army operating in Paombong, Bulacan last July 3, 2002 in which four were slain and two seriously wounded.

The NPA also scored successive victories over the bandit group of the RPA. The RPA or "Revolutionary People's Army," is the armed group of the revisionist MLPP or "Marxist-Leninist Party of the Philippines" headed by the Bill-Olive group. Among the crimes of the RPA against the people are murder, beatings, rape, extortion, theft and destruction of property. The offensives of the NPA against these bandits include the following:

• Raid and destruction of an RPA unit in Bulacan, Bulacan last June 29, 2002. The leader of the RPA and one other person were slain, and others surrendered. Five HPRs were confiscated, as were 2 bancas and important documents.
• Three successive ambushes on the RPA in Pampanga. In Sta. Ana last February 14, 2002, and in Mexico last March 11 and last August 30, 2002.
___ RPA were killed in said operations.
• Raid on an RPA unit last November 9, 2002. Five were killed and ___ M-16 confiscated.
• Raid on a group of RPA in Palauig, Zambales last February 2002.

The RPA continues to disrupt the guerrilla fronts in the region. They prevent the advance of the agrarian revolution and other mass campaigns by instilling terror among the masses. They kill the unarmed members of the branch and other organized masses.

The RPA are special paramilitary forces of the AFP and the PNP. It is easier for the latter to pretend to be RPA because the posture and inclination of the soldiers and the bandits are the same.

In order to strengthen the people's army, a basic course in politico-military training among the fighters and a basic course for officials for the military cadres were successfully carried out last September 2002. Over 80 finished these courses. A series of politico-military trainings will be launched in the region to enable the large number of fighters who have not yet received training to have them.

We have already made important organizational adjustments in the NPA in the region in order to overcome the excessive scatteredness that has brought great damage in the past. These adjustments and a tighter compliance to guerrilla guidelines and actions have resulted in a large reduction in the number of defensive actions and the harm stemming from them. It is still necessary to study and become accustomed as to how to launch more effective tactical offensives and to attend to the mass work and other important tasks after the new formations are put into effect.

Under the leadership of the Party and with the support of the New People's Army, the organized peasant masses in the Pambansang Kilusan ng Magbubukid (PKM) have achieved successes in the different struggles such as the lowering of interest rates or the elimination of usury, increasing the wages of rural workers, increasing the share of the harvest for those who help, asserting a better position in the land and the right to till the land, making excavated mounds communal, and increasing the prices of palay (rice grain), buho (bamboo) and cogon (tall grass).

Suyuan or bayanihan (mutual aid) continues to be promoted in order to promote production.

The struggle of peasants in one province against being driven from their land in relation to real estate development by a comprador-big bourgeois is now drawing to a close. The peasants succeeded in retaining several hectares of farming as part of the large tracts of land sold cheaply by the peasants to the developer because they were hard up prior to the time the people's army recovered the area.

The struggle for the minimum land reform were set in advancing the open campaign against rice importation and for increasing the price of palay. Here, the peasant masses were able to ally with the employees of the National Food Authority (NFA) and local officials of the reactionary government.

We continue to deepen and broaden the mass base in the countryside as the foundation of the enthusiastic participation of the masses in the people's war. We set up the mass organizations of the peasants, youth and women. The mass base of the countryside in the region has grown. The mass education according to the curriculum of the National Democratic School (Pambansang Demokratikong Paaralan or PaDePa) is ongoing. Nevertheless, there is still much to catch up on.

Successes in advancing the urban mass movement

Secondary to the armed struggle but a very important form of struggle is advancing the legal democratic mass movement in the cities. Principal among the legal forms of struggle is advancing the mass movement through mass mobilization and education and the formation of mass organizations. The other forms of legal struggle are the actions and work in reactionary institutions, the struggle of and for the political prisoners, the dual tactics in bourgeois elections, and the participation in the peace negotiations.

We continue to reach and to mobilize ever greater numbers of masses in the mass movement in the cities. The open national-democratic center in the region and other legal political mass organizations lead in arousing and mobilizing the masses on the issues of US military intervention and the joint military training of US-AFP troops, militarization, human rights violations, the issue of oil and gasoline price hikes, demolition and ejectment of the urban poor, landfill and various other sectoral issues.

In the workers' movement, we continue to assert the right to unionize and to choose the appropriate leaders, to fight for the wages and benefits of workers, to fight against pollution and the lack of water in one community, and to prevent the ejectment of the masses in another.

Overall, the local struggles combined with protest actions which carry a broader scope of political issues are vigorous. Nevertheless, it is still necessary to increase the mass mobilizations. The mass mobilizations in relation to national mobilizations outside of factories, schools, communities and offices can be increased through more thorough and detailed planning, better build-up, more closely knit propaganda, and advancing creative means which have been proven effective during the time of the campaign for the party list in 2001.

The comrades in the cities are determined to repudiate legalism and economism, and to overcome conservatism in mass work in the form of slowness in setting up the underground mass organizations and their expansion, and slowness in setting up local Party branches and expanding their membership. The comrades grasp that the urban mass movement can only contribute more personnel to the people's army and strengthen further the legal mass movement when a strong underground movement is established.

The exposure and isolation of the revisionist and opportunist groups, such as KPD, Makabayan, Sanlakas, BMP, MASP and Akbayan, which stubbornly try in inject themselves in the mass movement in the region, continues. As a whole, their activities are weak, but we should not be complacent, especially in some schools where they have prevailed in elections and some factory enclaves where they are persistently trying to organize. As in the countryside, we prevail over the opportunists by effectively leading the mass struggles for the people's legitimate aspirations and by firmly advancing the anti-imperialist and anti-fascist movement.

The circulation of Ang Bayan and Himagsik has been expanded. The AB provides a timely analysis and position on national issues. The Himagsik concentrates on local regional issues. We still need to develop the system of correspondents and the distribution system for the AB and for the Himagsik as well to hasten the coming out of the latter. The Himagsik must keep up with the rapid pace of the revolutionary mass movement in the countryside and the cities.

Our tasks

The organization of the Party in central Luzon and the entire country is in an excellent position to take advantage of the favorable situation inside and outside of the Philippines to wage revolution. We possess the lessons of the First and Second Great Rectification Movements. We are armed with the most advanced theory in the world and the lessons from revolutions that had achieved victory before us. The broad masses recognize our leadership.

In the face of the